The Smith Family group: How a short stop on the Rock became a lifetime

Just over 50 years ago, Gibraltar opened its doors to a family who arrived in port on their sailing boat. Little did they know they would make the Rock their home. It was in St Michael’s Cave, and I was in the audience. It was the mid-1970s, and I have this vivid image of the Smith family group featuring as part of the musical entertainment of the night. Not sure if it was a Gibraltar Song Festival or a Miss Gibraltar show, or something else. But I recall being hugely impressed by it all – a musical family group just like the Osmonds and the Jackson 5. I have been a fan of the Osmonds all my life – and back then their posters would have been hanging on my bedroom walls. But this was here – at home - a musical family group that would eventually remain and make Gibraltar their home. 

Even at a young age – by then in my mid-teens – I closely followed the music scene locally, having always attended a great variety of events and shows with my parents. From an early age I was already aware of the local groups and singers – and my parents would often mention the likes of Mario Segui, Los Romanceros, Los Trovadores, Diamond Boys and Albert Hammond, The Treks and all that came later. There were so many. Here was a new group – a family group – young singers performing with their parents – who would soon become a part of Gibraltar’s live entertainment and cultural scene. They were the Smith Family musical group who had sailed into port on board the yacht Roaming Melody for the first time 52 years ago in 1974. 

For some time, I had wanted to bring together Annette Button and her sister Susan Penfold and here they are at Alice’s Table – and as the three of us reminisce I soon learn that although I have known them for many years, and in my days at Radio Gibraltar interviewed their parents there was a story I did not know. 

Annette and Susan are stepsisters, and they have two brothers. Their parents Ray and June Smith had been married before, each having two children from their first marriage. Both couples had known each other and as children the girls and their brothers, Mark and Philip, knew each other well. They lived in Newton-le-Willows between Manchester and Liverpool. When sadly, Susan’s mother passed away at a young age, Ray and June, both working musicians in their own right performing in the clubs in the north of England would come together and marry bringing their children into the fold. Soon after the Smith Family musical group was born. 

“We would go to the clubs with them, and we would stand by the piano until naturally and eventually we joined in to form the family group.” 

Their mother June (piano and organ) also worked as an accompanist working with some well-known artists of the day like Ken Dodd and Pat Phoenix (early Coronation Street). Their father Ray (trumpet and organ) played in many dance bands in the area performing in Masonic Lodges and other events. He was also a mathematics and physical education teacher. 

“At the time they both worked with different drummers in the different venues, and they would travel throughout the north of England.” 

The girls remember that music was always a major part of their family life. 

It was in 1968 when the whole family (grandparents and all) moved to Devon allowing, by then, their parents to travel and perform together. But it was at this time they bought the Burston Inn in the middle of Devon - a large country pub and large entertainment venue where they would successfully work to develop their sound as a family group as they also managed the bar and restaurant. In those early days the group had a resident vocalist – Dave England - and the girls would join in the singing. The girls – Annette and Susan - eventually became the voice of the group. The Burston Inn venue grew and grew and was extended several times and became very successful. Ray and June also played nightly and engaged some famous artists like Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and David Whitfield. 

Annette and Susan also remember performing at Butlins at the time when the group entered the All-England Talent Competition just missing out on the first prize - a performance at the London Palladium. 

They had found their voices together and at around 10-years of age were already performing in the Working Men’s Clubs in the North of England with their parents. Both went to piano lessons. And although they each had different piano teachers they were both on the same grade achieving teacher grade standard. But when their mother decided it was time to move on and step out of Devon neither would take the teacher grade exam. 

Annette and Susan both have fond memories of school – Susan attending the Grammar School and Annette a Secondary Modern School in  Newton-Le-Willows. Annette quickly tells me her school was the one which well-known 80s superstar Rick Astley also attended. The sisters would later attend the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in  Newton-Le-Willows. 

“We just gelled as a family, and as stepsisters, we have always been very close. We were friends and our families just got on.” 

The family would for one summer season also live in the seaside town of Teignmouth where their mother was performing accompanying well-known artists at the Carlton Theatre. 

When they eventually sold the pub in Crediton (Burston Inn) for a second time a few years later, the family then bought a yacht. It was June’s idea after the family turned down some cruise ship work. June felt they could do this anyway if they bought a yacht and sailed into a Mediterranean adventure. But this required some training and adjustment. 

“We could not believe it. The fact was that none of us had sailed before – this was new for all of us. Our parents hired a skipper in Dartmouth to teach us how to sail and how to navigate. And then we sailed. Our mother was always the one who came up with what to do next and pushed us into new adventures.” 

By then the girls were 17 and 18 years of age. Susan recalls celebrating her 18th birthday out at sea. Annette celebrated her 18th in the Canary Islands. The sisters are just six months apart in age. 

They tell me they never questioned being uprooted and followed their parents onto the next stage of their lives. By the age of 16 both had left school – although Susan admits at one time, she may have had ambitions to train as a biologist and even applied to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries but never made the interview as by then they set sail into a new life. 

“It was really a huge adventure, and we just got swept in by the challenge and novelty of it all. There were times when it was a little scary especially when facing some bad weather at sea. Our confidence grew quite quickly though, and at the time there were other families doing the same as us.” 

They first sailed to the Channel Islands and Guernsey where their parents quickly got offered gigs. They then sailed and made short stops in Saint-Malo in France then onto Vigo in Spain and Portugal when they then crossed the Bay of Biscay making their way down to Gibraltar. This was only supposed to be a “short stopping point”. 

Now picture this – on the yacht, Roaming Melody, they had of  

course sailed with all their instruments including drums and organ – and the family would often rehearse whilst sailing out at sea. The yacht was 63 feet in length. 

“Our parents just loved to play music and they both loved performing. This was something they also passed on to us. We have always enjoyed performing and still do.” 

At the beginning the family group performed a lot of country and western music with the vocalist Dave England (whilst still in the UK). Then they extended to the popular songs of the day – Dana’s All Kinds of Everything, Try to Remember by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Country Roads by Olivia Newton John, and a selection of Abba songs. 

Arriving in Gibraltar the first impression was of this enormous rock rising from the sea to the sky. 

“It was very impressive.” 

Back then (1974) Gibraltar did not have marinas like today and the yacht for a time sailed into the destroyer pens in the historic section of the Gibraltar Harbour, located in the north sector near the North Mole. These berths had been built by the British Royal Navy to dock, refuel, and provision naval destroyers, and were also used for yachts.  

They arrived in Gibraltar in March. Their parents met and became friendly with Pepe Rosado who then worked in the Tourist Office – he auditioned them, gave them rehearsal space and they would perform in the Miss Gibraltar Contest of 1974 at the Queen’s Cinema. They would also perform in the Gibraltar Song Festival in St Michael’s Cave, and at the Queen’s Cinema where the sisters also performed as backing singers alongside Carol Kanya. They both consider their involvement in the local music scene then a great privilege having worked with the top musicians of the day. The organiser of the Gibraltar Song Festivals was Father Caruana who later became Bishop of Gibraltar.